Stream it on Paramount+.
‘Laverne & Shirley’
Season 5, Episode 25 (‘The Diner’)
“Laverne & Shirley” helped fine-tune a certain form of sitcom convention — the feminine duo, the “hangout” comedy — but when you need to do a deep dive, stick to Seasons 1 to five. Once Laverne and Shirley move from Milwaukee to California in Season 6, the standard declines.
For one in every of the funniest episodes, head over to “The Diner,” where the gals (briefly) take over the diner left to Lenny (Michael McKean) by his late uncle Lazlo (renamed Dead Lazlo’s Place, where you may get a Dead Lazlo Burger). It’s got the physical comedy: Laverne cooks and Shirley serves, resorting to carrying items to tables together with her mouth. It’s also got a few of the most effective lines, especially when the purchasers don’t even have the decency to call Shirley by her right name. You’ll wish to plead, together with Laverne, “Please don’t harass Betty, please!”
Stream much of Season 1 to five free on Pluto; bootlegs of individual episodes are easy to seek out online.
Season 4, Episode 3: ‘Playing the Roxy’
Top-of-the-line things about Season 4 is what number of Shirley-centric episodes there are. In “Playing the Roxy,” the gal pals were reading a trashy story a few stripper before Shirley hits her head; suddenly, she believes she is that stripper, the most effective exotic dancer in North America. If Shirley’s body is a temple, Roxy’s is an amusement park — and Williams throws herself into the role with gusto, practicing bumps and grinds against a doorframe before staging an elaborate burlesque performance. If anything signaled that Williams wasn’t content to play it secure, it was this.
Season 4, Episode 7: ‘A Date With Eraserhead’
Granted, among the sitcom’s plots are outlandish and require a suspension of disbelief. But then, occasionally, some are incredibly realistic. What would your best friend do if she believed your boyfriend was cheating on you? In “A Date With Eraserhead,” Laverne confronts Shirley’s beau, Carmine (Eddie Mekka), on her friend’s behalf (“I’ll hold him, you hit him”), only to learn that the couple has “an understanding” — that’s to say, an open relationship. This episode may not have the same old comic centerpiece, but it surely feels more true to the relationships on the core of the series, and Williams gets to indicate just a few sides of Shirley that we won’t have suspected were there, including heartbreak, jealousy and even perhaps love.
